My Name is Paul H Cosentino. I started this Blog in 2011 because of what I believe to be wrongdoings in town government. This Blog is to keep the citizens of Templeton informed. It is also for the citizens of Templeton to post their comments and concerns.

Paul working for you.

Tuesday, November 22, 2016

Former Hubbardston tax collector sentenced to jail, restitution for thefts

Former Hubbardston tax collector sentenced to jail, restitution for thefts

WORCESTER — Cynthia Washburn-Doane, the former
Hubbardston tax collector charged with embezzling $535,000 in town
funds, was ordered to serve a year in jail and pay restitution in an
amount to be determined after pleading guilty Friday in Worcester
Superior Court.

Judge Janet Kenton-Walker sentenced the 62-year-old Ms.
Washburn-Doane to two years in the House of Correction, with one year to
be served, after she changed her pleas to guilty on charges of
embezzlement by a municipal officer, larceny of more than $250 by a
common scheme and falsifying corporate books. The balance of the jail
sentence was suspended for three years with probation.

As
conditions of probation, Ms. Washburn-Doane was ordered to undergo a
mental health evaluation and any related treatment deemed appropriate by
the Probation Department and to pay restitution in an amount to be
determined by the court within 20 days of her release from custody.

Assistant
District Attorney John A. O'Leary had recommended that Ms.
Washburn-Doane be sentenced to 4 to 5 years in state prison with three
years of probation to follow and an order of restitution. Ms.
Washburn-Doane's lawyer, John M. Dombrowski, asked the judge to impose a
suspended 2-year jail sentence with probation and restitution.

Mr.
O'Leary said if the case had gone to trial, he would have introduced
evidence showing that Ms. Washburn-Doane stole $535,000 in tax proceeds
over a 10-year span beginning in 2004 and ending when she resigned at
the end of May 2014. Her resignation came after financial irregularities
were uncovered by the town and an audit was conducted.

The
report found that Ms. Washburn-Doane, who had been the town's tax
collector for 25 years, would take property owners' cash payments for
herself, and the accounts for which the money was intended would not
reflect any payment made.

In the next quarter's tax bills, Ms.
Washburn-Doane would adjust the accounts for the payments she stole to
prevent those accounts from becoming delinquent. She would apply cash
payments from other taxpayers to the delinquent accounts, so they would
appear paid and up-to-date, according to the review.

In some
instances, she applied phony payments in "dummy batches" that she later
deleted from the town's accounting software, leaving no record of the
transactions. Ms. Washburn-Doane told town officials that she kept a
separate, accurate list of taxpayers in 2013 who were behind in paying
their tax bills, so only those who were actually delinquent saw their
properties move into tax title, the report said.

Misappropriated cash and checks were applied to bring accounts current at the end of each year, according to the review.

Under
an agreement Ms. Washburn-Doane made with the town on May 28, 2014, she
consented to cooperating with an investigation of irregularities in
Hubbardston's financial records. As part of the agreement, Ms.
Washburn-Doane said she would disclose what she knew about missing tax
payments and provide documentation in her possession. She also agreed to
pay the town $120,600 in restitution to help cover legal fees.

When
questioned by state police investigators, Ms. Washburn-Doane, who was
making about $30,000 a year as tax collector, admitted stealing the
money, explaining that her husband was disabled and she had a daughter
in college and that she used the stolen funds to pay her family's bills,
according to Mr. O'Leary.

"As a result of Ms. Doane's theft of
funds, the town has often not had the resources it needed to fund all of
its programs and services. While Ms. Doane's daughter was studying
music, the town was cutting band programs in its schools and cutting
other services or delaying equipment purchases as we struggled to
balance the budget," Dan Galante, chairman of the town's Board of
Selectmen, said in an impact statement read in court.

"Besides
loss of funds, the town has also suffered in non-monetary ways. Her
deception has left deep and possibly permanent scars on all town
officials. Selectmen and the town administrator have been criticized for
what we did or did not do and condemned for not doing enough, as if we
somehow allowed this to happen under our watch or enabled Ms. Doane,"
Mr. Galante told the court.

In addition to the $120,000 paid by
Ms. Washburn-Doane, the town has recovered $210,000 in insurance
proceeds, according to Mr. O'Leary, who said he would have recommended a
more severe sentence but for the money she paid back and her
cooperation in the investigation.

"She clearly was stealing from people she knew," the prosecutor said.

Mr. Dombrowski said his client, who had no prior criminal record,
began stealing money in 2004, at a time when she was suffering from
depression over her 18-year-old daughter's death in a skiing accident
and her now 73-year-old husband's health was declining.

"The money
was used to pay her bills," said Mr. Dombrowski, who agreed that his
client's conduct had had a negative impact on the entire community.